The Wandering Spirit
by Rudolphx
Summary: With the conflicting feeling of being imprinted on the same soul, Embry and Seth endearingly watch Eleanor grow from an adolescent to a lovely young woman - all the while anticipating the moment when she'll gradually realize their situation in her obliviousness. EmbryOcSeth.
1. Chapter 1

_a/n: This primarily a first hand epitome of what happens when I procrastinate.  
__I had a Twilight marathon all day today - i read the novels when i was younger, and I always loved the Wolf Pack.  
__Firstly, because I am Native American descent, and secondly because they were flawed unlike the Cullen's who were frustratingly perfect.  
__The only vampire i loved was Rose. Bella was irritating to read, and i forced myself to read the second half of Breaking Dawn when i was 13 was because of Leah.  
__Anyways, enough with my pessimistic view of the Cullen's and Bella.  
I adore Embry, and Seth. C:_

* * *

"And now we will like to ask Seth Clearwater, graduating class of 2010's valedictorian please attend the stand?"

Seth wondered briefly as the crowd erupted with applause who on the Grad Committee's idea it was to host the event outdoors – with the heat pulsating around the swarming tables of his relatives and classmate's families, he decided that he should highly recommend an indoor celebration in the next year's affair. '_Appreciate the sun, you idiot. Go grab your certificate!' _He heard Jacob howl within his mind, and flashing a glance over at the black – a smirk on his face while he leaned his body back into his chair with his arms folded – Seth only stood and lethargically strode to the stage where Principle Alexander stood still clapping while he moved. Seth contemplated his Princple's choice of tie's while he stared at the piece of fabric adorning Great Dane's.

The noise settled into silence while Seth grasped the microphone, and unfolding the heavily worn piece of paper that he revised 11 times, he pressed his lips together while his eyes still remained on his leather clad shoes that he borrowed from Sam – he felt the rush of heat claim his face.

'_Let me see that pretty face', _He heard Paul's laugh amidst the silence.

'_You're making yourself look stupid', _Jared was brutally truthful in his observation standing in the back.

'_Don't start until I arrive!' _ Embry wasn't subtle in his lateness as he was on the highway nearing the school.

'_Stand proud', _It was finally Sam that actually got the young wolf to stare up at the myriad of peoples that gathered around him – peering, almost leaning into him intimidatingly, in await for his speech that he practised in front of the mirror for hours on end. His eyes lingered each of the attendants briefly as he coughed, preparing himself as he shifted awkwardly from leaning his weight from foot to foot.

Although when he opened his mouth, his mic dropped to the floor with a panging that caused the speakers to screech hideously, and in the back of his mind he thanked God for that, because nobody heard him utter curses when he acknowledged the girl sitting at the circular table reserved for the Chief's family.

'_There's the sun, guys did you see the sun when you walked in? She's fucking right there! For fucksakes!'_

Seth's inner monologue was cut short when the Principle plucked the electronic from the wooden floors of the stage and placed it back into the hands of Seth who was still staring at the girl swing her legs leisurely in her chair, tipping her head back and forth as she hummed a song that Seth heard across from the crowds of people. He smelt the wandering scent of burning wood she claimed that mingled with her father's musky fragrance, and spotted the dimples on her cheeks as she pressed her lips together – she was perfect right down from the beauty mark that claimed the skin beneath her left eye to the particular shade of mossy green that her eyes glimmered. Seth believed he never seen a girl so effortlessly flawless.

He stood, for a good ten seconds blatantly staring at the Chief's daughter, and it's when her legs paused from swinging back and forth did she realize that he was staring at her and blushed profusely – though shook this off and urged him to continue with a wave of her hand and a flash of a smile that took the radiance of the sky. Seth found himself off to a great start as he stuttered.

"T-T-Today we celebrate the end of a c-chapter of our lives, and continue t-to…" and suddenly, the speech that was almost engraved into his mind was vanished and replaced with the Sun's smile. He could stare at her endlessly and never be bored with that face.

'_Jacob are you recording this?!' _Paul's hollering of laughter was the only thing that sliced through the silence, '_Yes! Yes! More Seth, more!' _And Seth pried his gaze away from the stunner to acknowledge that Jacob was indeed pulling out his cell to record his embarrassment.

"We're young and we will grow old and die and this will be one of the highlights of our lives" the ending was rushed, and Principle Alexander was flustered and evidently confused when Seth shoved the microphone back to him, and Seth tried pathetically to keep his mortification hidden while he retreated back to the table that his sister sat at, and judging by her glower and the quake of her body, she was desperately attempting to supress the change. His mother was worse as she shook her head.

'_Fuck! Did I miss something good?' _It was seldom that Embry cussed. Seth dropped his head to the white table cloth and prayed dreadfully to evaporate within the humid heat, though immediately felt his body pulse in objection once he felt the stare of the girl – and pivoting his neck, he spied the girl still smiling beamingly up at the stage while the ceremony continued, though immediately whipped his head back to face the table when her eyes met his through his strands of hair.

'_Seth just imprinted during his speech, no worries – I documented the experience.' _Jacob snarled in Seth's direction while his face was still planted in attempt to seclude himself as Jacob tucked his cell back into his pocket. '_Imprinted? On who?' _ Embry was undoubtedly curious while he frantically raced to the school from the highway, and hearing his roaring Diesel truck, Seth knew he was near.

'_Chief's daughter, she looks 13' _Jared's voice was monotonic; bored without Seth atop the stage making a fool of himself and with the idea that Kim was at Emily's preparing a feast afterwards. Though the roar of Embry's dodge came to a halt while he trekked through the multitude of people and weaved passed the attendee's to sit among Jacob's table of family, and anticipated watching the recording that Jacob hastily provided to the wolf.

They muffled their cackles while Principle Alexander wrapped up the event and announced a celebration dinner inside the school's gym – though Seth didn't hear a word.

As if a driven maniac, before anyone arose from their seats, he scoped out the Tribal Council's seating area and found the large worn in cowboy hat that had a beaded hide encircling it that his wife sewn for him. A smile was indented into Seth's face while he merged into the crowd of people naturally and found the elderly man in the midst of a conversation with a member of the Council, albeit cut the interaction with him short when he spied the Clearwater boy awaiting patiently for him in the corner of his eye.

"I sure hope to see your face around more" his smile was contagious, he held an uplifting aura that followed him relentlessly – Seth found himself tying his similarities with Santa Clause. "Yeah, I've applied for reception work at the Band Office – going to take a year off of school" Seth rubbed the back of his head in mild shame at the Chief's flattery. "Ah my boy, you better go back to school, you need to take my place when I resign" he barked a laugh that curled Seth's mouth even more – Tantre Datuwa was always voted back into Council for a consecutive decade, for good reason – he was kind person.

"Hello" her voice was echoed within Seth's mind, it was the lightest sound that he has ever heard in his life – all bells and violins, '_oh god, she's so lovely.'_

In Seth's mild stupidity, he contemplated what to say to her, and nodded his head in the silence while Tantre watched his daughter's eyebrow quirk in confusion at the boy that just remained to stare at her, and all he could do was gruffly laugh at the situation at hand – he knew of Sam Uley and his pack, of the imprinting and the whole muddle of qualities that came to shifting into a great wolf – and knew that the boy that unrelentingly shined at his daughter was all consumed with her.

He patted Seth's back that immediately broke the trance, "I'll let you guys be, congratulations again, Seth."

_Where's your girl at, Seth? _Embry's resonance within him remained unacknowledged while he ran a free hand through his hair, "H-hey, what's your name?" he questioned, closing his eyes briefly to only process the words that ran through his mind rather than the faultless curve of her lips. "My names Eleanor" and almost abruptly in his awkwardness, Seth outreached a hand to for her to shake – although all he wanted to do was touch the angel.

"Do you like my dress? I made it within an hour, it was quite hard" her words spilled over each other and she grabbed the hems of the Ribbon dress and slightly swirled it as the ribbon's danced with her movement, and she giggled lightly while staring down at the fabric, though when she returned her vision up at the boy – his face was deadpanned and biting down on his bottom lip so harshly that Eleanor questioned his sanity yet once more.

Embry and Jacob sat at the now empty table still replaying the video for the umpteenth time, and still laughed with the fervour of when they watched it for the first time, and through Jacob's laughter, he gripped Embry's shoulder while he leaned over howling and pulled him back to face the duo that stood within the dispersing crowd, "His girl's right there!"

Embry's laughter died within his throat while his breathing altogether stopped in general.

'_Fuck.'_


	2. Chapter 2

Her feet pattered on the damp morning grass whilst she sprinted her small limbs down the hill towards the corral to simply watch the beast that wickedly paced itself frustratingly within its confines. Still garbed in her cotton pajama's that Seth purchased her a good week ago – already torn in the knee with grass stains at the elbows. She was truly a child of nature while she continued to thrust herself towards the horse – Seth running rampantly behind her shouting her name.

"Ellie, Ellie! That thing has half the mind to kill you!" Though it was evident Seth held the same reckless curiosity as their imprintee did.

Embry sauntered himself to the duo that now leaned up against the freshly painted white fence that housed the infamous black stallion. A pair of turquoise Hunter rain boots in hand for Ellie that no doubtedly tarnished her woollen socks – Embry watched with mild intimidation tittering in his bones at the horse.

He was a strong animal, trotting along the fence line, huffing in the brisk morning air – there were stories about the young stallion that was never mounted. Never tamed, and Embry supposed it should stay like that – even the most fearsome of Bull rider's from Colorado attempted and failed to ride the nameless horse. Each being bucked off in the most gruesome of ways. Embry felt the instinct to pull Ellie towards him when she lifted herself up to the stand on the wood, half hanging her body into the corral – though Seth was quick to pull the little fourteen year old girl into safety behind he barriers.

"Isn't he a beauty? He reminds me of Canadian midnights" she whispered more to herself than to her audience, staring in a trance at the fearsome creature that began to neigh, protesting its new environment. "Reminds me of a demon straight outta hell" Seth muttered, a palm full of Ellie's grey top still twisted tightly in his fingers. Embry nodded in agreement as he plopped the thick rain boots beside the girl, and she thanked him absentmindedly, still tugging against Seth's grasp.

"Elle, your dad didn't take him in for you to ride, stay away from him, alright?" Embry's stern request was met with a curt nod – she always obeyed the elder of the trio without question, and the wolf simply patted the girl on the head – it was all the recognition she needed for her stoic glower break into a lopsided grin up at him.

"Gotta be stupid to ride that thing" Seth nonchalantly added, finally pulling Eleanor off the fence altogether, which she groaned lightly at. Dismissively, she slipped on her boots and wrestled Seth's hand away from her with difficulty, "when I grow older, damnit Seth let go!" And with her light tone ruffling into an itchy hiss, it's when Seth turned his attention down to the girl that reached passed his belly button, and blatantly freed her.

"Leanne is cooking breakfast, Elle" Embry crouched and tangled his slender fingers into her thick brown mess, "braid your hair and eat, we'll come visit after we're finished our chores, alright?" And she girl nodded once more before running back up the hill and into the house – all the while both the wolves watched their young girl with a feverous yearning.

Seth and Embry remained quiet as they both began their trek to the stalls to begin their routine – both hired under Tantre as ranch hands for their herd of both horses and cattle. It was a difficult occupation – the cons out weighing the pros, additionally, their pay resembling somewhat handsome minimum wage. Though it didn't bother them none, it was shamelessly clear why they worked so hard.

The morning summer breeze was harsh on the pair as they began preparing the hay for the wandering cows out in the fields, the environment sparing them none of its moist extremities – Embry's old Chevy diesel roaring splendidly whenever they hit a pothole and nearly escaped getting muddled in the ditch.

"Hey you.. You wanna ride it?" Seth paused briefly from unloading the bales of hay as he nodded towards the resilient horse that continued to make a huge fuss out of its new home just a few miles down the hill. Embry clenched his fists as he stole a glimpse at the practical wild animal, feeling the hide stretch around his hands, he had to admit he had thought about it – and hesitation took his body whilst she stared up at Seth begrudgingly.

"Yeah you're right, not worth dying just yet" Seth assumed his position as he passed the bales to Embry – the hay weighing probably half their weight. "Let's set an example, I'm not scared of the horse - I'm scared of Elle" and Seth felt his chest pang with a hint of guilt at ever mentioning the audacious question. He felt daft, and nervously laughed off the ordeal, and sparked another subject with Embry, "rodeo starting this weekend, guessing we're loading the horses after this?" Seth's assumption donned bored ears whilst Embry clambered into the truck, Seth still standing mindlessly in the trunk, "Already loaded, Tantre's leaving with Elle in an hour, best we get back" and revving up the rambunctious engine, Embry was appreciative in its withering age as it was useless for the young wolf to begin any soliloquy.

Seth effortlessly slid into the passenger through the open window as they were nearing the gravel road, and remained silent, anticipation gripping the youth as he literally bounced in his seat as he spotted Eleanor hauling her unreasonably large suitcase out onto the porch.

Seth needn't bother waiting for Embry to even park before he pried open the rickety door to assist the girl – which caused Embry to growl under his breath in irritation.

"The whole weekend sounds so long!" Seth pouted childishly, pushing her belongings into the back of Tantre's GMC as he slouched his shoulders animatedly. Eleanor smiled glowingly at him and tackled Seth uselessly in the back, which only emitted innocently laughter from the duo as they began a gentle match – Ellie always turning out to be the winner as Seth faux whines caused Embry the beginnings of a migraine.

"I'll be back, and I'll bring you two something from Montana" her smile was blindingly beaming, and Embry's hands were shaking in his pockets to simply take the younger of their trio and grip her so hard – desperately begging his sun to stay. Though gulped down the temptation and placed a chaste kiss on atop the girls head, "bring me a whole moose" and Eleanor obliged charismatically, "with antlers that are bigger than you, Em" she laughed, briefly pulling him into a hug that he didn't reciprocate.

"Just bring me in your suitcase! You probably have fourteen pairs of outfits you wouldn't even wear, hell, half the time you don't even wear your shoes" Seth continued his mind splitting howl at the younger girl, his head buried atop her tresses as he pretended to whimper pathetically, though it was Eleanor's father that got the salivating wolf to back away at least a feet from his daughter.

"I sure hope you aren't chastising my baby again, Clearwater" he laughter that followed went unnoticed as Seth pleadingly apologized to the Chief, "shush now, Eleanor is riding for her first time this rodeo – she'll need to wear shoes for her barrel racing" the old chubby man chimed as he smiled glowingly down at his daughter that attempted feebly to contain her embarrassment.

"Win for me, alright?" Embry reassuring tone only urged Elle to wrap her arms around his waist once more, "I will, I'll bring home a belt."

And without another beat, she clambered up into the truck with a new found determination.

The weekend that followed after the Datuwa's departure was bland – black and white. Embry and Seth pondered how life was like before the brilliance of their imprint, though conversations such as those always ended horribly. Their heated entitlement of the girl always getting the better of either of them, the whole pack always chose to ignore their situation altogether, never was there once a person that both wolves hungered for. It was unworldly and cruel and Sam feverishly always felt the inclination to remind them they were brothers. The only thing holding them together was their shared love for the little girl that stole their hearts at Seth's graduation.

So when Elle returned on Sunday evening with a fourth place ribbon and a cheque for $50 dollars, it didn't matter she didn't win first – Embry and Seth held such a proudness for the girl that was unimaginable, having Embry frame the little red fabric onto the wall beside his bed, and Seth endlessly inflate her already huge ego. Tantre was grateful for the boys, already taking both of them as his own sons. He truly thought himself out to be blessed.

Embry and Seth sat cross legged in the basement, Eleanor hooking up her laptop to the television screen to show them her trip to the rodeo, it was evident she was excited – her skin being the only thing keeping her together from bursting all around the room. Embry and Seth also shared this feeling for the girl.

When the projection was successful, and Eleanor sprawled on her belly switching through the photo's she took with her pink fujifilm Seth gifted for her birthday late June, Seth and Embry were taken with the littlest of details that she explained.

From a blonde girl two years older taking first that complimented her old horse Cerlu, to the rodeo clown that passed her her hat when it blew off when she tipped over a barrel – every word the pie swallowed with admiration.

Though altogether it died when a picture was presented on the screen of a boy sharing the saddle with their girl. Both smiling, and Eleanor lucidly wrapping her arms around the brown haired, blue eyed cowboy.

"Oh god, that's, that's!" Eleanor clicked erratically through her library of pictures, which only caused a panic within her as more photo's of their coy affection was presented – Embry and Seth dead panned watching with little interest in the topic at all. Sighing, Eleanor stopped her shuffling and stopped at a picture of the boy – he was lifting himself up from the dirt, his hand clenched around her hat as a crooked smile taken his twisted mouth, a scar on the left side of his lip – Embry was careful to examine him fully.

"That's a dead man!" Emotions got the better of Seth as he stood to his feet and pointed to the fallen cowboy as Eleanor clouded her face with her hands, shy. Embry pulled Seth down on his bottom with a thump and shook his head, "who is that, love?" Embry asked in a more tempered tone, Elle felt safe to peel her hands away from her face, and nibbled on her bottom lip as she fluttered her eyelashes from both Seth's livid scowl to Embry's passive almost eerie grin.

"Beau Steele, he's three years older and be-" but before she could fully explain herself, Seth was already up and out of the basement, probably couldn't contain his shift, Embry presumed.

The silence was thick, and Eleanor felt ashamed at not deleting her evidence before she returned home, "uh, Beau aye?" Embry pressed reluctantly, rubbing the back of his neck in defeat as he quickly inched closer to his imprintee.

"Y-Yeah" Eleanor was weary to continue, though staring at Embry felt strangely uncomfortable, so she nodded her head and understood, "he's nothing serious, b-but" she shifted her gaze to the carpeted floor, and a smile mindful slowly spread on her full lips – and that's when Elle chipped a piece off Embry's heart.

"You like him?" His monotonic question resembled a statement and that's when Eleanor planted her hands into Embry's shoulder's – he didn't realize he was so close to her face, and respectfully allowed her her air and pulled away gently.

"Oh god please don't tell Seth, I don't want to, I don't know." That's when Embry's overthinking mind came down to the conclusion he lost whatever she was to the younger wolf – and all of his heart strings tore.

"Y-Yes, love. I won't" and kissing her on the forehead, he bid her a goodnight, and wandered up stairs into his room, and examined her fourth place trophy, and felt hollow.


End file.
